Our next Sapphic Circle meeting is Sunday, May 25, 2025,from 3-4pm EST (12-1pm PST). Please join us!
Sapphic Circle is a space for lesbians to come together for thoughtful discussions on a variety of topics. We seek to build lesbian community through engaging in lesbian ideas, politics, media, and more!
Representation And Visibility
As long as lesbians have been recording our lives and experiences, we have been asking the question, "Are there others out there, like me?" and to this day, many lesbians are asking themselves variations of that same question. As the L is often invisible, negated, or silenced in many parts of society, it is a common experience for us to see a lesbian in the media and have an 'aha!' moment as a result. For some lesbians, the first lesbian they came across was Stephen Gordon from Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness. For others more recently, it was Poussey Washington (Samira Wiley) on Orange is the New Black. Regardless of when or where this happens, these moments of discovery are something that connects many lesbians. We long to see some aspect of our lives and experiences visible and represented.
Lesbians In Pop Culture: Then
The Silent Lesbian - Greta Garbo (1905-1990) was perhaps one of the earliest and most well known lesbians in Hollywood. Given the era, most of it was based on rumour, but for many lesbians, she was their first glimpse of themselves on the silver screen.
Today we are fortunate to have openly queer figures to inspire us or show us we aren’t alone in our experiences. My Garbo fandom, however, has taught me the importance of the stories of women whose sexuality could not be publicly revealed and are perhaps taken for granted now. (Taylor, 2023)
The Emerging Lesbian - Ellen DeGeneres (1958-present) represents a true watershed moment for lesbians in the 1990s. Her character came out on the infamous "Puppy Episode," of her prime time sitcom, The Ellen Show, in 1997. Simultaneously, the real Ellen, also came out on Oprah. The Time Magazine cover depicting with the text, "Yep, I'm Gay" will not soon be forgotten.
“Less than a week after the episode aired, I came out to my five closest friends.” (Curtis, 2018)
The Visible Lesbians - The L Word (2004-2009) aired at a time when lesbianism was more prominent than ever before, but still seen as an "alternative lifestyle." Regardless, for the first time in history, lesbians could tune in every week to catch up with their favourite characters, going through the same relationship and friendship drama, as they were in day to day life.
The fact that we are now at a place where women are posing as lesbians for media clout is in stark contrast to the pre-Ellen times. Now, some celebrity lesbians don't even "come out," they simply post photos online with their partners, and it really shows how far we've come. Some lesbians view this as progress, others view this as regression, but we can all agree that we're in a very different place than we were fifty years ago.
Questions To Consider
What was the first piece of media you came across with lesbian representation?
When and how has lesbian pop culture impacted you?
Who are your favourite lesbian celebrities?
What makes a lesbian celebrity a good role model or problematic?
what kind of lesbian representation(s) and media are you still seeking and wish were visible?
What are the positive and negative impacts of increased lesbian visibility in mainstream media?
